Page 25 of The Wrong Brother

But beneath the curiosity about how exactly Emma has tumbled into my life, my mind is already moving elsewhere. Pieces slide into place one by one.

This gorgeous woman, who my idiot brother let go without a second thought, might just be my way back home.

Opportunity indeed.

I tap my thumb once against the porcelain coffee cup before making the decision completely. She’s finally picked up a pastry, a cream and raspberry Danish. When her teeth bite into it, the dough flakes up against her supple lips. I can’t look away.

“You’re staying with me. I need you.”

Emma blinks. “What?” Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, and I stare, trying to ignore the rise of heat in my loins.

Need.It’s not what I meant, but I can’t deny it, either.

“You heard me.”

She lets the pastry fall to her plate. “Absolutely not.”

“Yes.”

“What can you possibly…? I told you, we dated, that’s it?—”

“Trust me, Emma.” A purr, a promise. I see her shiver at the words. “You don’t really have another choice; you’ll help me put an end to Andrei Cheney. You’ll stay in my home until we reach an agreement, an understanding. I have two rules: don’t go near my niece, Kate. And don’t run.”

Anger flashes across her face. “I’m not your prisoner.”

“My otherprisonersshould be so lucky,” I murmur, letting my gaze drag from her mouth to her throat, to the sliver of a collarbone still showing. A flush colors her chest.

“That’s… not reassuring.”

Leaning forward, I reach out and swipe a bit of raspberry jam from the corner of her mouth. Emma holds her breath. Slowly, eyes locked on hers, I put my thumb in my mouth and suck.

“I haven’t decided who you are to me yet, Emma Pierce, but I’m beginning to think you may be a means to an end. You’re lying to me about something; I’ll let you keep that secret. For now. But I think we both know that if you run again, I won’t be so kind the next time I catch you.”

Tomorrow I will decide whether Emma Pierce is a threat, a liability, or something infinitely more useful.

Tomorrow we will discuss her options.

But today?

Today I intend to keep her exactly where I can see her.

Chapter 7

Emma

Sleep doesn’t settleme down, not for one moment. Every tiny sound in the massive house jerks me awake again.

Footsteps in the hallway. A distant door closing somewhere downstairs. The indistinct murmur of voices I can’t make out through the walls. By three in the morning, I’m lying rigid beneath expensive sheets, staring at the ceiling, fully dressed because some deeply paranoid part of me thinks I may need to run again at any second. Although…these aren’tmyclothes.

Surely a man like Russ Smith, even if that isn’t his real name, could find something in one of his many warehouses? Instead, I’ve been given a luxurious t-shirt several sizes too large for me and sweatpants. Clearly his.

I still can’t fully reconcile the two versions of this man in my head.

Russ: the elegant billionaire with expensive glasses and a wicked smile who fed me dessert with his mouth against my skin.

Ruslan: the man who hunted me through Santa Barbara with cold eyes and a terrifying calmness that made me understand exactly how dangerous he really is.

There’s violence in him. Not rich-man violence, butrealviolence. The kind I used to want to hunt down and put away. Only now, I seem to be a prisoner to it, toeing a thin line between temptation and punishment.